Leading Hospital Interpreting Service Announces Plan to Aid Compliance with New Joint Commission Accreditation Standards

MONTEREY, Calif., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Language Line Services, the leading provider of language-based solutions and the number one provider of over-the-phone interpreting services for the healthcare industry, announced a program of support, instructional materials and consultations to help ensure compliance for hospitals as they gear up for the new Joint Commission accreditation standards taking effect in January 2011.

"The Commission's new standards reflect the needs of an increasingly diverse U.S. population. Over 60 million people -- about one in five U.S. residents -- speak a language other than English at home," noted Louis Provenzano, president and COO of Language Line Services. "This presents an enormous challenge for the healthcare industry where $73 billion a year is lost due to poor communication according to the Institute for Healthcare Advancement."

The Joint Commission has issued a report titled "Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals." Language Line Services will offer its "Customer Regulatory Readiness Program - Support for The Joint Commission Requirements for Language Access," much of which is free, to help its more than 12,000 healthcare customers navigate the Roadmap to improve patient safety outcomes throughout healthcare systems, teaching facilities, integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and rural facilities. Language Lines Services fields more than 100,000 interpretation calls daily from healthcare providers, led by 41 of the top 50 U.S. healthcare organizations and 16 of the top 20 health services providers.

"We applaud The Joint Commission for enhancing these standards and see this as a great step toward assuring equal healthcare access for all patients, regardless of the languages they speak," Provenzano said.

The Language Line Services program will focus on the language-related sections of the report which include: developing a system of identifying the patient's preferred language; ensuring the competency of individuals who provide language services; developing a method of delivering language services; and translating materials and signage into other languages.

Hospitals are reviewed for compliance with Joint Commission standards on an ongoing basis, with unscheduled accreditation surveys taking place approximately every three years. Hospitals that fall short of these standards risk losing access to Medicare and Medicaid funds, as well as incur additional costs in resolving issues identified to reestablish compliance.

In addition to free materials and consultation services, the following services are being offered to hospitals by Language Line Services to ensure compliance:

• Review/assessment of hospital needs -- Language Line Services will work with hospitals to first assess their level of compliance, identify gaps within those programs and processes and then recommend and develop solutions to help keep hospitals in compliance with the new standards, as well as other laws and regulations.
• Interpreters trained to exceed new and existing standards -- Culturally sensitive, trained and tested employee medical interpreters (as opposed to independent contractors) that assure the highest quality and most efficient interpreting possible.
• Document translation -- Allows patients to view vital forms, consents, signage and other materials in their native language to assure the best care possible.
• Language Line(R) University Training and Testing -- Serves as a resource for hospital officials to assure their bi-lingual hospital staffs are competent in the spoken languages as part of a well-rounded language access program meet all of the new standards.

Healthcare providers and their limited English proficient (LEP) patients are supported every day by Language Line Services in over 170 spoken languages plus American Sign Language (ASL) and Mexican Sign Language (Lengua de Senas Mexicana or LSM). Its professional interpreters for deaf and hard of hearing patients also support the new Joint Commission requirements. Language Line Services has helped healthcare organizations address the requirements of Title VI, OMH CLAS standards, HIPAA, NCQA, and other federal, state and regulatory requirements over the years and has increased its regulatory-related staff to assure the company remains a valued partner to the industry.

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services, the global leader in telephone interpreting and language solutions, serves clients in government, healthcare, telecommunications, financial services, utilities, insurance and many other industries by quickly connecting them to their customers, patients and sales prospects in more than 170 spoken languages as well as American Sign Language (ASL) and Mexican Sign Language (LSM). Growth of the language interpreting industry has soared with increased immigration and government regulatory policies mandating that organizations provide services to limited English speakers in their own languages. Language Line Services is recognized as a trusted partner to thousands of public and private organizations throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, providing easy access to the industry's fastest language interpreting service at highly competitive rates.

For more information about Language Line Services' suite of telephone, on-site and video interpreting, document translation, interpreter assessment and training programs, please call (800) 752-6096 or visit http://www.languageline.com/page/industry_healthcare/.

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SOURCE Language Line Services